Master Splinter
Master Splinter is the adoptive father of Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. He raised them and taught them in the art of Ninjutsu. He is portrayed as a dark gray rat in monk's robes and is stated to weigh 90 lbs. Early life Splinter started his life as an ordinary rat in Japan who found his way into a home owned by the Ancient One. When he was discovered, his life was spared by Tang Shen, the Ancient One's adopted daughter, who took him as a pet. As in previous versions, Tang Shen became tragically caught up between Hamato Yoshi and a jealous rival, this time Yukio Mashimi, a childhood friend of Yoshi's. The two of them eventually joined the Utroms and became Guardians. But Mashimi's jealousy of Yoshi, both for his advancement as a Guardian, and the love of Tang Shen, led him to murder Shen and betray the Utroms' location to The Shredder. Yoshi killed Mashimi in revenge and went to America with the Utroms, taking Tang Shen's pet with him, and giving him the name Splinter. Later, Yoshi would be tracked down and killed by The Shredder, who tried to force him to reveal the Utroms' location. In this continuity, it was Hun that Splinter scratched as his master Yoshi was attacked, and not Shredder. Soon after he found the TMNT and trained them in the way of ninjutsu. When they were older, Splinter named the four turtles, from a battered book he fished out of the storm drain containing the names of Renaissance artists, which he named the Turtles after. He continued to train the Turtles in every way they could, for preparation for evil the TMNT did not fully understand until The Shredder Strikes Part 1 in which the TMNT learned of the Shredder's evil and hatred and how he killed Splinter's master, Yoshi. The Turtles then forward continued to fight the Shredder to stop any evil spreading across New York and the world. Biography Ninja Tribunal Splinter appears most of the time alongside the Ancient One expressing his deepest concern for the safety of his sons and for the harsh teaching methods of the Ninja Tribunal when they enlisted them to fight Tengu Shredder. He has nightmares of his sons dying in battle and was grief-stricken when it appeared to come true. To his relief, his sons were merely knocked out and defeated the Tengu Shredder. Fast Forward Splinter has been seen in the Fast Forward season continuously teaching his sons' and Cody Jones the ancient ways of Ninjutsu and despite how old fashioned he's shown to be in previous seasons, too adjusted to living in the year 2105 fighting off any evil that came his way alongside his sons. Back To The Sewers Splinter did not make much of a physical appearance in Back to the Sewer, however he did appear as small data fragments scattered across Cyberspace thanks to Viral and the only times he was every physically shown was during the first episode of BTTS called Tempus Fugit when he was first scattered into a million data pieces and the last episode called "Wedding Bells and Bytes" when he was returned to the real world and attended April and Casey's wedding ceremony which was abruptly interrupted by the appearance of "Cyber Shredder". Though he did appear in a few flash backs. Splinter is shown to love his sons very much. Splinter's design was also revamped to make him look more like his design in TMNT. Personality Splinter is portrayed as wise, intelligent, and a skilled martial arts teacher. He is nearly always calm and, even when angry, refrains from raising his voice. He is the quintessential calm, all-knowing wise master of all martial arts. He cares for his adopted sons with fierce devotion, rescuing them in very critical moments in the series, such as when Shredder attempted to execute the four on a building, or when Bishop tried to literally tear them apart for science. He went berserk with fury when the Foot attempted to slay the Turtles with a robot Splinter and going all the way to Japan after the four had been kidnapped by the Tribunal. Anyone who tries to harm them severely is nothing more than a threat in Splinter's eyes, proved when he pounced on and attacked Casey when he stumbled into their home, not knowing he was a friend, of course. Splinter apologized for having nearly killed him (but he also quickly and angrily told Jones be more careful in the future). In fact, a recurring gag in the 2003 series is that Casey often and unintentionally annoys Splinter with his immature and accident-prone behavior, to the point of him being more than willing to send the turtles to the surface if this means that he will be free of Jones. But despite this, Splinter and Casey are in good terms with each other. Splinter even served as a father figure for Jones on occasion, visible when he helped Casey express his feelings for April, despite knowing little about (romantic) human relationships himself. Splinter's concern for his adopted family likely stems from the loss of his previous family, through the murders of his master Hamato Yoshi & Yoshi's lover, Tang Shen. The loss of Yoshi was especially hard on Splinter. It is likely this, along with the grief from having failed to protect his owner/father figure/teacher, that caused him to be very protective of his adopted sons. However, regardless of his love, he can be fairly militant to his sons, especially when they were very young and inexperienced. Splinter's main fear is that he and his family will one day be exposed to the outside world for what they are, and is understandably protective. He is not above disciplining the turtles whenever they become disobedient or unruly, (such as making them do backflips repeatedly in the second live-action movie). Splinter isn't without his soft side. He has a normally tender and self-sacrificing heart, insisting the Turtles not give up their weapons when Hun took him as a prisoner in Rouge in the House, Part Two-(this was ignored by his sons, choosing to drop their weapons anyway) and was most hesitant about letting his sons die alongside him in Exodus, Part Two. Another characteristic is his dry sense of humor, cracking jokes while maintaining his serious demeanor. Also, he could be heard telling everyone in "Reflections" that he thought the turtles, as infants, "were all so cute." In the Ninja Tribunal series, he was haunted again and again with nightmares of his sons being slaughtered. When it appeared to actually happen, Splinter was lost in despair, but quickly turned to relief when it was apparent they had just been knocked out. He is also reluctant to allow his sons to be trained by the Ninja Tribunal, as he hadn't forgiven them for not helping Hamato Yoshi & Utroms combat the Utrom Shredder, Ch'rell (believing their cold indifference lead to Hamato Yoshi becoming a victim of the Utrom Shredder and felt if they had heeded Yoshi's warning then he might not have died in the first place). In the Back to the Sewers, he admitted that, even when he was in pieces in Cyberworld, he had an intense yearning to see his family again. Splinter is not completely cut off from the pleasures of modern culture: he enjoys soap operas. This is more fully displayed in Fast Forward, when his hobby is mentioned several times. Gallery Master Splinter/Gallery Category:Ninja Turtles Category:Good Guys Category:Leaders Category:Fathers Category:Heros Category:Good Boys Category:Charaters Category:Allies Category:Alive Category:Almost Deceased